A Tien Love Story
by Bucky
Summary: (Complete) Ever wonder where Tien was on the day Garlic Jr. released the Black Water Mist? Well, this story hinges on not only where he was, but what he was doing and who with... 'rated R for brief dbz violence.'
1. Default Chapter

**A/N: A HUGE thank you goes to 3 eye cowboy. He supplied me with a plethora of information on Tenshinhan, hence any congruency with the actual manga/anime can only be credited to him. Thanks, man! **

* * *

**THE DAY THAT GARLIC JR. INFECTED THE WORLD WITH THE BLACK WATER MIST… (OR MORE ACCURATELY, THE MOMENT KAMI AND MR. POPO COUNTERED IT WITH THE SACRED WATER AND EVERYONE CAME TO THEIR SENSES…) **

**_PROLOGUE_**

_Peaches, peppermint - some heady floral aroma, and…sweat?_

Taste and smell. Those two senses were regained before his other three. It wasn't much, but it was enough to know that whatever he was doing - it wasn't familiar. Then 'feel' hit, and he was suddenly bombarded by an intoxicating, sensual warmth that seemed to encompass..._everything._

For the first time in Tien's life, the harmonious unity of his spirit and flesh was completely disrupted, as he realized that his body had been acting without his awareness. Terrified, his eyelids peeled open only to find his face attached to someone else's beneath him - someone whose feline, copper eyes mirrored his own fright and shock in ruthless detail.

He gasped and rolled off.

She screamed.

He fumbled through a tangling of limbs and sheets until he fell back over the foot of a bed. Landing with an unceremonious 'thud' on the floor, he contemplated jumping to his feet - until he saw how completely buck-naked he was.

A small yelp escaped his lips and he yanked the cover off the bed and wrapped it around his torso. Granted, it was nowhere near his usual semblance of dignity, but at least he was modest, and he braved a look up at the woman he'd been with.

She had a sheet bunched up in both fists against her chest. Her chestnut hair was beyond disheveled, with a distracting chunk of white strands intertwining with the brunette from a birthmark atop her scalp. And her exotic face…

Under normal circumstances he might have seen beauty, or elegance. However, in this chaotic moment, all he saw was expression. And she was going from horrified to furious.

"YOU!"

He choked, still trying to calm his body down from an activity he never gave it permission to do. "I…what…" He frowned denial. "I don't know you, lady!"

"You BASTARD!"

He saw the flash of her teeth, and she moved as though to attack him. When the sheet slipped past her bronzed shoulder, however, she gasped and sat back on the bed, tugging it up to her chin. Her eyes watered then with a soul-piercing cocktail of loathing and mortification. "What the hell did you give me!"

"Nothing! I don't even know where I am, let alone how we…ended up…like _that_-"

"LIAR!" She screamed, and a sob leaked out. "Why! You already destroyed one of us, but now you've sought to break MY spirit, too?"

"What?"

"After all these years? To seek me out-"

"What are you talking about!" He cried, almost hysterical with confusion. "I've never even seen you before!"

She didn't believe him, apparently, because at that point her scowl darkened and she started to frantically scan the room. Tien figured it was for something to throw at him, and having no desire to prolong the most awkward situation of his entire life, he quickly located his pants in the corner and went to retrieve them.

"Hey!" she screamed behind him. "You're not leaving here without giving me the chance to kill you! I've trained my whole life for this moment!"

_Huh!_

"This is…insane," he stammered incredulously, and without waiting for her comeback, he powered up and crunched straight through the ceiling and fled into the afternoon sky.

The cool air that pushed against him as he flew did little to clear the pandemonium in his head. Convinced for several brief seconds that he was lucid dreaming, Tien pinched the inside of his arm - hard - in an effort to focus his tumbling thoughts as his panic frenzied for attention.

It didn't work. He swore. As if an indication of where he was might trigger the memory of how he'd ended up here, the three-eyed fighter scanned the ground below to get some bearing on his location. Little bits of information blitzed across his consciousness before being swallowed up in his vortex of confusion.

Mountain community.

_Why was I here? Where's Chaotzu?_

Medium-sized town, populated streets…

_Who was that girl?_

The people - bronze-skinned, sleek-haired, slightly pointed ears…

_Feline eyes, like that girl's…_

The knowledge washed over him like a cold shower. _The People of the Caídos._ Their unique, ethnic distinction told him he was near the Dodoian Mountain range. Unfortunately, it did little to relax him, as all his run-ins with the Caídos had been less than pleasant. Their culture was rigid, their temperaments hot, and they were openly prejudiced against those who weren't of their kind.

_What the hell happened to me? _

To his surprise, there were no gawking eyes, or pointing fingers as he soared over them. It was as though they were too distracted to notice he was even there, some gawking at the street signs, and others staring at their hands as though surprised to find them attached to the end of their wrists… Tien blinked and narrowed his eyes. _They're all dazed… _

Like me…

Whatever happened, it was on a large scale. He had slowed as he tried to analyze the situation. The the lightening air friction enabled her lingering aromas to trail up to his nose, and he realized that her scent was all over him. His tongue tugged involuntarily on his bottom lip as he sucked it between his teeth. The minty residue of whatever balm she'd been wearing still clung to his mouth, and he shook himself in frustration to focus his thoughts.

In a quick move, he let the bed sheet slip off his form and slipped on his pants, and it was then that he thought about Lunch. An unbidden, acute guilt formed in the pit of his stomach. He grunted with unease. Why did he feel like he'd cheated on her even though he had no control or recollection of what he'd done? Besides, he hadn't seen his old girlfriend since he abandoned her a few years back when he went to go train at the Lookout.

_Agh…_ The feeling in his gut spread to his chest and squeezed his heart. He winced at the painful memory, made more so uncomfortable by the fact that he never sought her out later to patch things up. He usually tried not to think about it, and again found himself fixating on how he'd come to his senses in this strange place, with that strange girl, and engaged in no innocent act.

Suddenly, his stupefied train of thought was yanked into attention when he sensed a familiar surge of power in the distance. He frowned. It couldn't be Goku, yet it was similar…

He gasped. _Goku's boy? _Yes. It was him. And something else… Some force much more corrupt and evil.

No sooner had he noticed the darker power than it seemed to dissipate, shortly followed by the dwindling energy of Goku's son. Whatever struggle had occurred, it felt like it was over. He turned himself in that direction, figuring when he found the child, he'd know what infected his mind to land him in bed with that Caída girl.

His earlier dilemma pushed aside, Tien powered up and sliced through the air at his top speed. If he couldn't be there for the fight, then at least he'd be there to help pick up the pieces. Hopefully the boy was still alive.

_Hang in there, kid. I'm coming!_

* * *

. 

**A/N: I just have to tell you guys that that was THE hardest scene to write without mentioning body parts!**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2_**

**FOUR YEARS LATER (2 MONTHS AFTER THE DEFEAT OF CELL)**

Tien settled down Indian style on the snow-covered mountaintop. Straightening his back and resting his hands on his knees, palms up, he closed his eyes to meditate. A small anxiety nagged at him as he tuned himself to his spiritual awareness. With a grunt, he dismissed it.

Just because the brutal flashbacks had thwarted his previous six attempts at a higher enlightenment, didn't mean that it would happen _every_ time he tapped into his subconscious…

Concentrating, he was somewhat relieved as the familiar displacement of his soul gave him the sensation of being lighter, grander, dispersed… _In tune._ He saw the higher planes in his mind's eye with their great, swirling auras, promising new capabilities and strengths to the human warrior. He reached for it… Held his breath…

"Nnnghh!" Without warning, he was yanked him from the holy realm with all the force of an avalanche. Tien was flung mercilessly back into his body, flipping it to the frozen ground. He felt the snow crunch in his hands as he clawed at the mountain, trying to regain his sight. But sight would be the last thing to return. It always was.

With his consciousness in shackles, Tien knew he had no other option but to watch the replay of his wicked past. He waited for the blacks of his eyelids to illuminate with cinematic memory. Silently cursing, he only hoped it wasn't as bad as the last time…

* * *

_A low murmur rustled through the dimly lit tavern as he and Chaotzu sat down at the bar. People stared disapprovingly, while the smattering of large, tame mountain cats growled at their unwelcome presence. It was expected, but no less aggravating. _

Strangers, thieves, trouble…

Tien snarled and glared through slitted eyes at the prejudiced minorities sitting about the room; with their plaited hair, tipped ears and suspicious, dark-skinned faces.

Damned inbred Caídos,_ he thought bitterly. _So puffed up. _He recalled briefly their folklore. Caídos. _The Fallen._ As though they were angels incarnate. They believed themselves to be literal descendents of a mammalion God - a pure people, a perfect race. And they loathed outsiders. Even those that were just passing through. _

Well,_ he thought darkly, _who are we to disappoint them? _Feeling his scowl turn into a sinister grin, Tien swung on his stool, and faced their little audience. He rested his elbows lazily back on the counter. In sync with his thoughts, as ever, Chaotzu did the same. _

"You have five minutes to get us a meal, provisions, and ten pounds of gold," he said loudly, staring them all down. "If you're late, I'll blast this dive to the next dimension."

Oh, how they hated him. He could see it in their eyes. He took note that no one moved, and it was only moments before the town muscle burst through the swinging doors, his flexed form rigid with ire.

"Rumors talked of a three-eyed man, and his pasty midget sidekick who were wandering around, robbing local communities," the burly man purred as he crouched down into a fighter's stance, his slivered caramel eyes making him look like a demon. "You made a mistake in coming here."

"Is that right?" Tien asked, so anxious for a fight he could barely stay still. "And who's going to stop us?"

"Domingo," he seethed, tapping a finger to his chest. "A name I'm sure you'll remember."

Tien snorted as he sensed the man's low ki level. Highly disappointed, he came to the conclusion that it wouldn't even be worth fighting him. He cocked his head at Choatzu. I'm not going to bother, _he sent telepathically. _Freeze him, will ya? I'm sick of this place, already.

Chaotzu smiled, and then his face narrowed in concentration. Domingo's eyes widened in brief panic as his body involuntarily stiffened and tipped over, crashing to the wooden floor.

Before his friends could retrieve him, Tien had materialized by his prone side, and lifted the man up in the air by his neck. The confident, fuming expressions of their little audience opened in fear. Tien started laughing at the sudden change of mood. Cowards… 

"I changed my mind," he called out to them. "You now have four minutes, or your pathetic champion dies."

He smirked with satisfaction as they started scrambling to collect what he wanted. It pleased him greatly as a bag of food and flasks of wine were tossed at his feet in minutes, and he was doubly delighted when a heavy sack clanked to the floor before them.

Chaotzu retrieved the items and grinned up at Tien. "It's all here."

The man in his grasp began to struggle as Chaotzu released the psychological grip he'd had on him. In one half-spin, Tien hurled their hero like a discus, splintering him through the tavern wall and into the street. He followed him out, only to see that the town champion had lost consciousness from the impact.

Tien spat, disgusted. "You're a disgrace to the class of fighters," he jeered at the limp man. It suddenly made him furious that this person had tried to stand up to him, when he was so obviously weak. It was people like this that cluttered the brute profession.

And so it was that Tien felt wholly justified in what he did next. Ignoring the growing pool of spectators, he brought his foot up, and dug his heel in the man's spine between his shoulder blades until he felt it snap. "Better for you to do needle work for the rest of your life, rather than impersonate one of us."

Then he and Chaotzu turned to walk away when an ear-piercing wail sent shivers up his back.

"FATHER!"

He turned to see a girl break through several grasping hands to collapse over the maimed man. She was hysterical, maniacal and belligerent all at once. Couldn't have been more than 13. The sight unsettled him, and though his mind told him to keep walking, he couldn't pull himself away.

When her tear-streaked face lifted, the youth homed in on him, and without warning, she sprung. She crossed the distance between them so fast that her attack actually caught him off guard. She swiped at him, scratching his face before he caught her by the hand and dangled her at arm's length. She hissed and spat at him like a frenzied kitten.

"Leave her alone!" A woman cried from the spectators, her voice saturated with emotion. "You have what you want!"

Tien looked up and was taken aback by the Caídos hot, penetrating eyes that bored straight into a conscience he'd been trying to bury. A familiar ache formed in his chest, and he fought it the way he always did. With violence.

He threw the girl into the crowd with ease, her impact knocking several others down. A couple of their mountain cats roared and leapt at him, and he batted them aside with the ease of a flyswatter smashing flies. Then he lifted his hand and sent a well-aimed ki-blast at the tavern they'd just been in, engulfing it in flames.

"Let's go, Tien," Chaotzu said, tugging on his pant leg. He pursed his lips, reigning in the fury. One of these days that pang would go away - the one that seemed to surface whenever he inflicted hurt. That's what Master Crane said, anyhow. And damn it all, he thought he'd almost become numb to it, until today…

Tien dug his nails into the flesh of his palm. Why was he so weak? He could never become like the great Tao pai pai until his soft heart was completely callused. There was no room in the soul of an assassin for remorse. None at all.

Frustrated with himself, Tien turned on his heel with Chaotzu en tow and they walked out of the village, unmolested, with nothing but cries and laments left in their wake.

He kept telling himself that the Caídos had had it coming. Those bigots needed to be taught a lesson, and it was a good thing he showed up to give it to them.

Yeah. Good thing…

* * *

"Tien!"

As his awareness returned to him, he felt small hands gripping at his shoulder.

"Tien, come back!"

He moaned and grimaced at the cold. Half of his face was probably frozen. He rolled over on his back and opened his eyes to see Chaotzu's worried expression hovering over him like a blanket. "It's…over, Chaotzu," he choked, weakly lifting himself up on his elbow.

"I felt your ki rise," he sputtered. "Was it another flashback?"

With Chaotzue's help, Tien sat upright and exhaled a shuddering breath, wincing at the memory he'd been forced to relive. After a moment he nodded.

Chaotzu's voice softened. "Was it from the time you broke Yamcha's leg after he was already unconscious?"

"No."

"Was it from the time you snapped Bee Man's arms in half when he forfeited the match?"

"No."

"When you gave Felipe the Strong's mother a concussion for calling you a cheater?"

"NO!"

Choatzu stepped back, stunned at his sudden aggression. Tien imagined he would have felt bad for snapping at his friend, had his chalice of guilt not already been filled to the brim.

"It…" he cleared his throat, and forced the words past the lump in his throat. "It was Domingo, Chaotzu."

The eternal child went silent. Rumor had eventually made it back to them that once the Caído fighter regained enough strength in his arms, he committed suicide by blowing his brains out. He'd preferred death over paralysis, and Tien couldn't say that he blamed him. He might have done the same, had their roles been reversed.

It wasn't the worst offense in his history of evil, but it was damn close.

Tien snorted bitterly. "He told me that I'd never forget his name," he said, squinting against the glare of the reflecting ice caps. "And he was right."

He felt a reassuring pat on his shoulder. "Let's go back to the cabin, Tien. You shouldn't be out here in the cold like this."

Reluctantly, Tien nodded.

* * *

. 

Tien sat quietly in front of the fire, sipping at the tea held absently in his hand. The feeling had just barely started to return to his frost-bitten face, and he welcomed the pain. Anything to distract him from his own crimes against humanity that he couldn't undo.

After tidying up somewhat, Chaotzu came and joined him. His concern was almost palpable. "What's happening to you, Tien?"

Without taking his eyes off the dancing flames, he shook his head. "I don't know," he said quietly. He had avoided analyzing his latest troubles, hoping they would just disappear. But they hadn't. Perhaps it was time to talk them through. "Ever since Cell was defeated, it's like I've reached a plateau in my training."

Choatzu looked at him thoughtfully, and nodded. "Maybe it's because for the first time in many years the earth isn't threatened. You don't have the incentive that you used to."

Tien shrugged. "Maybe…" Then he felt his face scrunch in consternation. "But why the flashbacks? I thought my soul was cleansed when I died to save the earth, Chaotzu. What more does fate want from me? What's done is done!"

Chaotzu, as always, was a perfect bouncing board for his thoughts. "Perhaps it's not a form of punishment. There has to be something triggering them."

No sooner had Choatzu said it, than Tien drew the parallel. "Emptiness," he whispered after several moments.

"What?"

"It's emptiness," he said more firmly, feeling his eyes widen at the promising thread. "Do you remember that feeling back when we studied under the Crane Master? The sensation that something was missing?"

Chaotzu looked back at the fire, a far away look in his eye. "I do," he said quietly. "It was the spiritual ache of going against our nature."

"Hurting the world instead of helping it," Tien said.

"Hmmm." Choatzu glanced at him then, his wide unchanging eyes almost accusatory. "But you're not hurting anyone now, Tien."

"No. But I can't shake this feeling that I'm running away from life, even though it's finally safe to live it. I train because it's what I do. It's what I've always done," he said, and then shook his head sadly. "I don't know anything else."

Chaotzu went quiet for several moments at that, and Tien could only assume that the child-warrior was contemplating his own destiny. Finally, he spoke. "I've been thinking lately about…my empire."

Tien's head shot in his direction. "You have?"

Chaotzu nodded. "I think it's time I returned."

Tien was almost speechless. "I…never thought you considered it your responsibility…"

For a moment, Tien thought that he saw Chaotzu's perpetually circular eyes crinkle. "It's what they created me for, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, but…" Chaotzu's origins flitted across his mind. He was spawned into existence with dangerous magics by an evil and impotent emperor. The child came with immense potential, and inhuman powers as a form of insurance that he would never be dethroned. He was to grow to be a great man… And that was the glitch in the whole experiment.

Chaotzu didn't grow.

Tien was raised in the palace as a help to the guards. His people had been slaughtered by the emperor when he was a baby, and yet they salvaged him for his anomalous third eye. So naturally, having grievances of his own, it wasn't a tough decision to make when he overheard the mages talking about killing the freak child and starting over. Being dubbed a freak himself, he had bonded with Chaotzu on the few occasions they'd talked. It was an instant friendship.

Tien remembered the night they fled that foul kingdom. He'd only been eleven. Then they'd sought out the Crane Master. And by some act of God or the Devil, the man took them in…

He swallowed. "Well, you're certainly strong enough to take it back," he finally managed. "Do you really feel it's your destiny?"

Chaotzu's eyes glistened slightly, and he locked stares with him. "Yes."

For some reason, that statement felt like a blow to the gut, making him immensely sad. Chaotzu was his comrade, his best friend, his confidant… He couldn't imagine a life without him, yet it looked like their futures were headed in opposite directions. He sighed heavily. "I see."

Chaotzu smiled sadly at him. "And you should start a family, Tien."

Tien felt his eyebrows lift at the suggestion. _A family…_ With a wife, and children to raise and love and protect… The more he thought about it, the warmer it made him feel. "Yeah…" Then he snorted. "Maybe it's time I patched things up with Lunch."

"Maybe you both can come and live in my kingdom," Chaotzu suggested happily, and Tien found himself smiling. Perhaps he could do all this without losing his best friend. For the first time since the day they defeated Cell, he felt an honest joy swell his chest.

"I'd like that, Chaotzu," he said, envisioning his beloved Lunch in his arms as their children roughhoused with the little emperor. "I'd like that very much."


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter 3_**

Lunch had turned out to be in the same town as last he'd heard. The manager of her catering company had recognized Tien from her old pictures, and obligingly pointed him in the direction of her home.

His palms tingled with anticipation as he made his way up the rough-hewn road. His heart was nothing short of racing, and his strut was thrown off by an uncharacteristic bounce in his step.

Tien was both excited and nervous. VERY nervous…

Sure, it had been several years, and sure, perhaps they hadn't left on the best of terms (he winced at a memory of her screaming at him for putting his training first), but what was truly undermining his ability to stay calm was that somewhere between leaving Chaotzu and arriving here, Tien had decided to outright propose to his old girlfriend.

_Marry me… _

They were going to be the first words out of his mouth, and the more he dreamed of their future, the more exciting it became. She'd take him back. She always did. Especially now that he was ready to settle down. They could marry, have little three-eyed, split-personality children, and move to Chaotzu's empire…

It was a future he'd earned, dammit. A future he could hardly wait for now that he realized it's what he truly wanted. A smile split his face as he saw the quaint two-story home beyond the shadows of the evergreens. She'd apparently done well for herself. He chuckled inwardly at both of her personalities. _With so much intensity, how could she not be a success?_

He was just about to break into the clearing when jesting male voices made him pause. Peering around a tree, he saw two men sitting at a poker table on the front porch with a game of chess between them. One was an average-looking, city scrub, and the other was a well-muscled lumberjack type, with his rolled-up plaid shirt, and worn levis. He was muttering something as he peered at the game between them, his face frowning in consternation.

Tien hung back by the tree. He must have gotten the directions mixed up. _No matter,_ he thought, undeterred, _I'll just ask them where Lunch's house is…_

Suddenly a high-pitched squeal shot through the clearing, and two small boys burst through the front screen door at a speed too fast for their tiny legs. They ended up tumbling in the dirt as they fell, wrestling playfully with one another. Tien thought they might be twins, for all they looked alike, with their blonde, curly hair and bright eyes.

The scene made him smile, as he imagined the future children he and Lunch would have together. Family life had never been so attractive. He moved to approach the men when the screen door swung open again.

Tien froze.

"All right, you two! Get your happy little asses back in here!"

A woman marched outside, her curly, sunshine hair swinging behind her like a morning star. She had one angry hand curled on her hip while the other shook an angry finger at the two urchin boys. He knew the lecturing pose well. He'd been on the receiving end of that temperament a hundred times.

_Lunch…?_

"It's bath time, and if you don't get movin' I'll scrub the skin off your bones!"

As though inoculated against her empty threats, the children simply giggled and started to run from her. She stormed after them, only to be caught by the burly man, who aggressively hooked his arm around her small waist, spinning her around until she plopped in his lap.

Tien's thoughts bounced back and forth between reality and denial. _It's her… She lives here. Maybe she's babysitting. Those men must be her co-workers… _He fought a sudden, irrational urge to yank her out of that oaf's clutches and knock the imposter's mojo up between his shoulders.

But then, instead of clobbering the guy, Lunch grinned seductively down at him, and let him nuzzle her neck as she turned her attention to their game. After a moment, she took one of the characters, hopped it around the board, knocking several pieces off in the process. The city man buried his head in his hands and moaned while the one let out a loud, baritone guffaw.

"Honey, you just won us a hundred bucks!"

The evidence of the scene before him stabbed at his heart like a dull spoon. _Her house…her children…her man…_ Tien felt his stomach drop out. He spun behind the tree, bracing himself against it as though it were a dam ready to burst. Breathing suddenly became very difficult, and the air whistled in and out of his clenched teeth.

_This can't be happening… _.

Yet he couldn't deny what he saw. Lunch already had the life he'd planned out for them, and it was with someone else. Tien's hands began to tremble, and his heart felt like it was being ripped out of his chest.

_Oh Kami… This hurts! _

A small grunt escaped his lips, and he clamped his hand over his mouth. The sting in his eyes was becoming unbearable. All the training in the world hadn't prepared him for this…loss…

It made him feel for the first time ever that his life wasn't worth living. He banged his head quietly against the back of the tree with his eyes barred shut. If it hadn't been for the blood roaring in his ears, he might have heard the crunch of leaves as she approached.

As it was, he didn't realize Lunch knew he was there at all until he felt her light touch on his forearm.

He gasped, and flung his eyes open, barely making her out through blurred vision. She was beautiful. Even prettier than he remembered, and she was looking at him with an intense, but rueful expression.

"Kami, Tien," she said softly as she studied him. "You actually thought I'd wait around for you to come back, didn't you?" Her words were harsh, but her face was uncharacteristically gentle.

He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Weighted down with angst, he bowed his chin to his neck, unable to look her in the face.

Several moments of silence passed, and he felt her trace her hand up and down his arm in an attempt to comfort him. She lifted his chin with her other hand, forcing him to look at her.

Reluctantly, he did, and regretted it immediately. There was no remorse over lost love in her expression, but rather a sort of detached pity. "Was I…so…easy to get over, Lunch?" he finally managed, ashamed at both the question and the rawness of his voice.

She tilted her head and her eyes crinkled in empathy. "No. Of course not," she breathed. "But I had to move on."

He couldn't argue with her. And even if he could, what was the point?

"I don't resent you anymore," she said earnestly.

He snorted, wondering why the hell she thought those words might console him.

"I saw you when they broadcasted the Cell games, Tien. Your calling to fight _was_ more important than…us. No regrets," she said, shaking his arm gently.

"Is he…" Tien paused to swallow the lump in his throat. "Is he good to you?"

She locked him in her stare then, eyes narrowed, lips pursed. She nodded. "I love him."

His breath caught in his throat, and he looked back at his feet. A part of him thought perhaps he could have been happy for her, but he was just too damn busy feeling sorry for himself.

"There's someone out there for you, Tien-"

"I don't want anyone else!" The words hissed out before he could stop them, and he looked at her with wet eyes. "You're the only woman I ever cared about…"

The sadness in her face right then belied the frenzied personality she donned. She sighed heavily and cupped his face with her hand. Standing on her toes, she landed a bitter-sweet kiss on the corner of his mouth.

His senses were assaulted by the gesture, feeling the warmth of her lips again, catching the scent of that vanilla gloss she always wore. It burned, confused and anguished him all at once.

_Don't do that, _he silently pled as she lingered there. _Don't touch me like you still care when I know you don't! _He would have broken away, but he longed for her affection. And it was a good thing she pulled back when she did because he was half-a-second away from clutching her to him and kissing her like he used to.

"I'm sorry, Tien."

With that, she left him there, taking with her all his dreams and hopes for the future. Feeling an unprecedented sorrow, Tien realized that the emptiness that had spurred him to seek Lunch out in the first place couldn't even hold a candle to the cankerous void that ailed him now.

With barely enough concentration to generate his ki, he ascended into the air and flew away from the clearing without looking back.

* * *

.

Tien didn't pay attention to where he wandered the next couple of days, meandering around the land like a zombie. But he did make an effort to avoid people.

So it was that he surprised himself one day by walking into a racially diverse coastal city at the end of the Dodoian Mountain range.

With his nerves still raw, he pulled up his emotional draw bridge. Even in this mixed place people still gawked at his third eye like he was a freak. Under normal circumstances, their prejudice was something he could tolerate, having grown accustomed to it years ago.

But these were no normal circumstances. Having lost the love of his life, he still felt like dying, and further ostracism from strangers could only perpetuate the acute, heart-swallowing loneliness that leeched all happiness from his soul.

Tien was briefly pulled out of his self-pity as an immense black mountain cat blocked his path. The creature almost came up to his thighs, and perched on its back, as naturally as a kangaroo pup in its mother's pocket, was a little girl. She couldn't have been more than three years old.

She was staring up at him, deliberately cutting him off. Slightly disoriented, he took in her appearance. Her ethnicity was ambiguous, a light mocha tone to her skin and noncommittal slant to her lids. She had on a bright yellow sundress and matching bandana, that contrasted well with her sepia coloring. Sleek, cinnamon hair cascaded out behind slightly tipped ears, and her sweet, caramel eyes were split down the center by a black, slivered pupil.

But the strangest thing about her wasn't the monstrous cat she rode, or her uncertain parentage… It was the way she stared at him - not with the horrified curiosity of most pedestrians, but with bewilderment, excitement, and… _recognition?_

_Huh?_

"You have three eyes." She informed him with all the blatant of audacity of her age.

He frowned. "I do."

Pause. "I have three eyes, too." She slid off the cat and walked up to him, reaching a hesitant hand up to her little bandana. "Wanna see?"

Dumbfounded, Tien nodded, mutely.

With a discreet glance to see if anyone else was looking, the little girl pulled the material up off her forehead, and sure enough, just as warm and stunning as her other two, was a third eye.

Tien gaped, astonished. He'd never seen another human with his unique feature before, and it filled him with all sorts of strong emotions he wasn't prepared to deal with. He dropped to one knee and studied her face - hard. .

"Unbelievable…" It was just like his - same spot, same proportion… He felt an instant connection to the girl as though she were his own daughter - sharing in common with her the source of all his greatest powers and insecurities. A third, anomalous eye. And she'd been hiding it.

She was watching his expression with a hopeful anticipation, as though longing for his acceptance while preparing herself for his rejection. She must have felt intimidated by the way he was gawking at her, because she lifted her fingers to cover it back up. Tien silently cursed himself for his tactlessness, and stopped her, holding her tiny hand in his large one.

"Don't hide your eye, child. Never hide it. It's who you are," he said intensely as he studied the little flecks of gold smattering her otherwise copper iris. "It's beautiful."

His words must have surpassed her expectations, because an ear-splitting smile broadened her face, and her eyes moistened with delight. Suddenly, without warning, she leapt on him, her little arms wrapping around his thick neck and squeezing with all the strength she could muster.

Tien choked. The contact broke through all of his barriers. He gasped as the emptiness left in Lunch's wake was unexpectedly filled in by this strange child's affection.

In the midst of trying to regain his composure, he was assaulted by a fierce paternal longing. He wondered who her parents were, and if they'd let him intervene in her life. She was special, and he couldn't stand the thought of her sweet, innocent nature giving way to bitterness and hate, as his own had from the persecution he'd suffered as a child.

When the little girl finally pulled back, she patted his cheeks as though he were a pet puppy. "Your eye is b-beautiful, too!"

He felt as though his heart had just doubled in size. A surprised chuckle escaped his lips and he tousled her hair. The mountain cat growled softly and he pulled his hand back.

"Whats your name?" he asked.

She clasped her hands behind her back and looked shyly at her feet. "Tinoco." Then she glanced back at him. "What's YOUR name?"

"Tenshinhan," he said. "But my friends call me Tien."

"Ti-en."

He nodded. "Where are your parents?"

As if on cue, her eyes raised up and fixed on something past his shoulder, her face nothing short of ecstatic. "Mother look!" she exclaimed. "This man has three eyes, too!"

Tien shifted to see who stood behind him. The first thing he saw was a pair of bronzed, shapely legs. His eyes trailed up past the cream suede skirt, and curvaceous figure to the woman's face.

His breath caught in his throat. "_You_…"

Copper, fiery eyes gazed at him with all the stupefaction of the moment. Sleek chestnut hair with a white braid on the side danced about her shoulders as she shook her head in denial. He knew the Caída's face, and he knew the expression. He'd woken up to it on the day of the Black Water Mist. And she was no less composed about the sudden reunion than he.

"See?" Tinoco chimed behind him. "He's just like me!"

Then Tien flung his head back in the girl's direction, as another earth-shattering realization threatened to undermine his grip on reality. "You…you're…" He turned back to the woman, whose bewilderment had shifted to belligerence. "She's my…I'm her…"

His stuttering was mercifully silenced by an open-hand slap on the face.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Chapter 4_**

"Hey! That's not very nice!" Tinoco reprimanded in an adult tone, no doubt repeating a phrase her mother had taught her.

After slapping him, the woman bore down on Tien, her teeth clenched and hands balled in fists. "You're nothing but a sperm donor, you son of a bitch," she hissed in strained undertones. "Don't you dare presume to be anything else!"

Still stunned stupid by the fact that he had a daughter, Tien just gawked silently at the angry female. She straightened, but her scowl didn't. After a tense moment of fuming, she flung a finger at the mountain range.

"There's an old arena about a half mile up that canyon." She paused while Tien glanced obediently to where she was pointing. He saw the "V" of the canyon, and imagined the place.

"Meet me there at sunset," she grated.

He frowned up at her. "Lady, I told you-"

"Are you afraid?"

He looked at her rigid frame, making out a thin aura of energy swelling around the woman. Truth was, she intimidated the hell out of him. He almost nodded his head.

"Are you going to meet me there, or not?" she barked, permitting him no other conversation than an affirmative. For lack of a better response, he nodded mutely.

She pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes and nodded once. "Till sunset, then."

"Mother, he's a nice man-"

"Quiet, Tinoco."

"But he IS."

She stormed by him and lifted the disapproving girl back onto the large cat's back. "Let's go." Then she marched off, with the massive, feline predator en tow.

Tien watched them, dumbfounded, until they disappeared behind a street corner. He imagined he would have fled, rather than face that Caída's wrath. After losing Chaotzu to his own destiny, and then what happened with Lunch - he certainly didn't need any more drama. And this woman seemed to promise plenty of it.

_But the little three-eyed girl…_ The way she had looked at him with hope, and then acceptance… The way she had put her tiny arms around his neck, sharing her friendship without condition or expectation… She needed him. Someone finally needed him.

And he was going to be there for her, dammit. And if it meant that he had to put up with that belligerent vixen, then so be it.

After all, he had a right to raise his own daughter, didn't he?

He both dreaded the encounter, but was anxious to get it over with, so Tien arrived early. He'd played out the conversation they'd have in his head, trying to find the best way to phrase that he hadn't beguiled her on that day, years ago.

She showed up all too soon, a little more composed, but no less indignant. Her hair was braided back in typical Caído fashion, and her attire was black, and loose fitting. She crossed the arena and stopped, only a few feet in front of him with her arms crossed angrily across her chest. The woman was ready for a fight.

And Tien was ready for a conversation. He held out his hands in a placating gesture as he frowned at her. "Listen, we were both victims of an evil brainwash, lady - "

"Isabel."

He paused and then corrected himself. " - Isabel. It affected the entire planet. I didn't - "

"I believe you," she said.

He hesitated. "Huh?"

"I said I believe you."

The unexpected words should have diluted the situation, he thought crazily. But then why was she still radiating rage like a chained pit bull? He frowned at her, his pitch rising. "Then what do you have against me?"

She seemed to study him for a moment, and then relaxed her arms, placing them on her hips. "You honestly don't remember, do you?"

Bewildered, he shrugged and shook his head. Her eyes narrowed, and the words fell from her mouth like lead slugs.

"You killed my father."

Tien froze as his earlier confusion gave way to morbid anticipation. He didn't want to know the answer to his next question anymore than he wanted to face Nappa again, but it had to be asked. "Who was your father…?"

Her lips pursed, and eyes fluttered. "Domingo."

_Oh…shit…_ He suddenly felt sick.

"You murdered his spirit when you paralyzed him, and he finished the job, himself."

Flashes of the young girl who'd charged him after he'd snapped the Caído's spine flitted across his mind. He remembered the white patch of hair now, fritzing about her head as she'd hissed and spat at him. Tien's stomach dropped out. All the tension left his shoulders. _Domingo… Of course…_

He bit back a shuddering breath and hung his head, unable to look at her. "I…I'm sorry," he whispered. "I was a different person, then."

"I don't care."

He stiffened, and then nodded his head. "I understand." Perhaps his penance was to finally be met by dying at this girl's hands. He thought that if it meant an end to the chasm of guilt that swallowed him every time those old memories surfaced, then death might not be so bad.

He cringed inwardly. No wonder fate had chosen a different destiny for his best friend, and a different man for his girl. A lump formed in his throat. _Goodbye Chaotzu… Lunch… _

Resigned, Tien sank to his hands and knees before her, bowing his head. He suddenly had the macabre sensation of crucifying himself.

"Avenge your father," his words dripped like blood in the dirt. "I won't stop you."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Tien's survival instinct screamed profanities at him as he tempered his ki in an attempt to remain powered down for her attack. There was a brief pause, and he wondered momentarily if Domingo's daughter would have both the courage and strength to do it. Both curiosities were answered, however, when his world was sent spinning as her foot connected with his jaw.

Granite, sky, and trees spun wildly around him as he pitched backwards, his head striking something with a sickening, starry crack. He groaned inarticulately, with barely enough time to tense for a knee in the ribs that catapulted him, splintering outright through a towering evergreen.

The crunch of foliage filled his ears as the forested floor outside the arena broke his momentum. When he came to a halt, he clawed at the ground beneath him in a desperate effort to keep from protecting himself as she attacked yet again, falling on his prone form like a crazed harpy on a carcass.

The Caída's ki flickered across his rapidly dimming consciousness, as the blows started to take their toll. The individual nerve-searing injuries - lacerations, punctures, contusions, broken ribs - seemed to bleed all together into one big mind-numbing pain, and he bit back a scream at the agony of it all.

Her onslaught was relentless, and the sting of her hits eventually faded into pressure and thuds as his body went into shock.

Just before he lost consciousness, Tien found himself grateful that she was meting out his punishment by destroying his physical form, and not his soul. If she'd emotionally flayed him, the afterlife would have done little to abate the throbbing guilt that reduced him to a self-loathing shell of what he once was.

_Yes,_ he thought crazily as his eyes rolled back from the last jab. _Better…to end…like this…_

* * *

. 

With rage coursing through her veins, Isabel pummeled the three-eyed fighter. All the hate and animosity she'd carried throughout the years was finally given an outlet, manifesting itself in merciless bludgeonings as she continued to beat the man to death.

But through it all, her conscience interspersed her fury with unwelcome moments of clarity, begging her to stop.

_He was gentle with Tinoco._

She screamed as she kicked his ribs.

_He regretted what he'd done._

"Doesn't matter!"

_Who he'd been._

"Shut up!" She spat at her subconscious as she picked him up by his shirt and threw him at the canyon wall. His body indented the rock, slumping to the ground like a marionette with the strings cut. She was at his side in moments, and turned him over for the final blow. His head rolled on his shoulders, the whites of eyes showing through fluttering eyelids. His clothes were bloodied, and torn - as mangled as his physique.

_He's changed._

_His expression was honest._

She sank to her knees as her eyes rested on his bloodied, bruised visage.

_His face was kind…_

_Agh! _Memories of the wicked man who paralyzed her father battled with the helpless form before her. She could kill him right now. It was what she'd trained her whole life to do…

Acting on some skewed volition of its own, her hand lifted to trace a cut on his cheek. Unconscious as he was, she finally let herself see the face of the man who had shown up in the Cell broadcast as one of the brave fighters set out to save the earth - the man that made her outcast daughter feel special instead of freakish for her unique feature - the man who had been a victim of a guilt so great that it coerced him into giving up his life so she could avenge her father…

And she'd just beat him within an inch of his life.

"O papá…" she breathed as water sprang to her eyes. She raised a quivering hand up to her mouth. "What have I done?"

Without further hesitation, she grabbed the battered warrior's arms and draped them heavily across her shoulders from behind, standing cautiously under his massive weight. Isabel then trudged her way back to the city, feeling for the first time in her life that Hell would better suit her vengeful nature than Heaven.

* * *

. 

Tien awoke to the smell of antiseptics, and hollow sounds of echoing voices and footsteps. He frowned. _A hospital?_ It disoriented him, the unfamiliarity triggering his body to tense up and heart to race. It was then that he realized how much pain he was in, and the previous fight surfaced in his mind with brutal clarity. An involuntary groan resounded in his chest.

He heard the small noises of someone shifting about the room, and he opened his eyes. The Caída, Isabel, hovered over him, loose strands from disheveled hair hovering about her face like a hazy aura. Her eyebrows were drawn tight with worry over expressive feline eyes, and her lips parted in an unvoiced question. It was the first time Tien had seen her don an expression other than muted surprise, or venomous hatred, his first thought being that she was actually quite pretty when she wasn't trying to kill him.

His second thought came trickling off his lips in a raw, raspy tone. "You spared me…"

A pained expression crossed her face, and she turned away from him, and looked out the window. "There is no honor in killing a good man," she said quietly, almost defeated. "Regardless his past deeds."

He blinked. "How did you know I was good?"

"I saw it in your face." Then she twisted enough to see him, her figure silhouetted against the city night lights from outside. "But more significantly, Tinoco recognized it. And her character judgment is flawless."

_The girl…_ Detecting alignments was an intrinsic part of having a third eye, and he wondered if her mother had made the connection. That was only one of many abilities she might possess, and Tien again felt an urgent desire to influence her upbringing so nothing evil could latch onto her innocent spirit as it had his.

"Tenshinhan."

His identity sounded weird coming from her, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the informality of using his full name, or because she was finally recognizing him as someone worth having a title besides 'Murderer'.

She had folded her arms across her chest and turned her back to him, head bowed. "Tell me your story."

He considered her request. "Where-" he cleared his throat, "where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning."

Tien took a deep breath, and winced at the pain of his lungs expanding against busted ribs. He grimaced, and took in his battered form. He was covered in bandages and cold presses. Something was even wrapped snugly under his chin and over the top of his skull, restricting jaw movement. Then there was the acute, throbbing ache that made him wish he were still unconscious.

He sighed inwardly. _She spared me. She certainly has a right to the tale, and if she wants to hear it now, then so be it._

And so he told her. He started out with a people he barely remembered, and the day of massacre that wiped them from existence. He spoke of the cruel emperor and his own jaded upbringing in the palace. She had stopped him at that point and asked him questions about the persecution he suffered for his third eye, no doubt concerned for Tinoco's future.

He could have brushed over it, but Tien felt it was necessary to make her understand exactly how the ostracism and infliction corroded away his innocence and turned him into the monster that had paralyzed her father. He hoped two things; first, that it would somehow heal her animosity towards him, and second, that it would coerce her into letting him into their lives, if only for Tinoco's sake.

And so he told her in no uncertain terms how the solitude and persecution had tainted his heart and warped his conscience. After that he spoke of Chaotzu's 'birth', their subsequent friendship and departure.

He divulged his tutelage under Master Crane and the assassin Tao pai pai…how his first master had taught them to steal from those weaker in order to 'pay' for their training, which was how he'd come across her village in the first place.

Their first World Tournament… He spoke of meeting the spiky-haired Goku, and all his quirks and innocence, and skill…

The epiphany he had as he went to end Goku's life that changed his and Chaotzu's alignment permanently, and his abrupt transition to the 'good side'. He showed her the scar on his chest - a memento of his last fight with Tao pai pai, the evil man he once idolized.

He spoke of his obsession with training to become as strong as Goku, and how it dominated his life. He told of the battles with the earth's predators - Garlic Junior, the Saiyans, Frieza, the Androids, Cell… His death and time in the after-life… His relationship with each of the earth's real defenders.

And finally, he told her of the emptiness that had inspired him to finally seek out Lunch. He could have skipped over it, but it was too much a part of his 'story' to leave out, and so he told her everything. Lunch's duo personalities, her initial obsession with him, and how she followed he and Chaotzu everywhere. How he grew to love her, but was incapable of putting her above his training…

How he left her to train for the Saiyan's arrival, and didn't return until years later, ready to settle down only to find out he'd lost her to someone else… And finally how he'd wandered pointlessly until he wound up in Isabel's city.

When he was done, his voice was little more than a whisper, having been worn raw from use. Her fixed expression of scrutiny finally relaxed, but only slightly. He just hoped she believed him.

"So…" she walked slowly over to the foot of his bed, her weary face illuminated by the hospital lights. "Where are you headed next?"

"I…don't know." The truth was, he knew exactly where he planned to go, and it was with her and their daughter. But he wasn't sure Isabel was ready to hear that. After being the object of her hatred for so long, he couldn't just barge in on their lives…could he?

Then he thought of those little copper eyes that had looked up at him with all the hope in the world… Could he not?

"Isabel…" His voice was little more than a strained whisper. "Tinoco is headed for hardships. You can't protect her from them, but believe me when I say you'll do more damage by hiding what makes her stand out."

Her eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"Hiding her eye," he whispered, horrified anew at the invasive attempt to camouflage the child. "You'll stunt her development."

Her face contorted instantly and Tien braced himself for a verbal thrashing, but just as quickly, she bit her lip and fumed quietly until she could respond in a civil manner. He waited. She finally shook her head abruptly and shrugged.

"I can't let them tease her. She's my life-"

"She can withstand the teasing if she has a solid grasp on who and what she is."

"I don't even know what she is! I don't know what YOU are!" Her thinly held composure was giving way to belligerence. "And just who the hell do you think you are, questioning-"

"Let me help," he said, cutting her off. "She'll have skills and powers beyond that of the average person, and she'll need training. She'll need someone around who's been there and can give her a sense of normalcy when she's anything but."

She grimaced. "Let YOU help?"

Despite his raw voice, his tone raised and forced sound into his words. "She's too precious to be manipulated by bitterness from being different!" he countered aggressively. "Look at the dark path I took to get to where I am now. Do you want that life for her?"

He saw her face twist in indecision, and she spun away from him, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides. "You're the monster that made my life hell, Tenshinhan. You've done nothing to warrant a place in our lives."

She was right. He'd done nothing to earn their respect. Taking a deep breath, Tien used his remaining strength and powered up. His muscles screamed, and all the wounds she had inflicted on him scorched his nerves anew. It hurt like hell, but it wasn't going to stop him.

Isabel's eyes widened at his growing aura. "What are you doing?"

Grunting, Tien sat up in the bed and forced his battered legs over the side. "Something I should have done a long time ago." He hissed as he limped over to the window and yanked the screen off with one hand.

"Which is?"

He looked over his shoulder at her perplexed face. "I'm going to give you a reason to trust me." Before she could respond, he jumped out of the window and took to the night sky.

* * *

. 

Two weeks later, Isabel didn't panic when the sky turned black, as she had all those times before. She remembered from Tenshinhan's story about the dragonballs, and the eternal dragon. Hugging Tinoco to her bosom, she could only wonder if he was the one doing the wishing, and if it had anything to do with her.

The three-eyed warrior had already caused two upheavals in her life. Was she ready for a third?


	6. Chapter 6

**_Chapter 6_**

Between having her thoughts plagued by Tenshinhan, and the summoning of the eternal dragon, Isabel almost called in sick that night to work. Then she pushed it all aside, and silently reprimanded herself. His actions had already dictated enough of her life, dammit.

She threw the effeminate suede skirt and laced top in the laundry and donned her black bruiser pants and muscle shirt. Then she tied her thick, chestnut hair in a ponytail and slipped it through the fastener of her baseball cap. The steel-toe boots completed her status as a club bouncer, and she walked into the front room and snatched the keys off the table.

Tinoco lay nestled against the furry chest of the massive black mountain cat, counting her fingers.

"Four. Five. Seven."

"Six," Isabel corrected.

"Six…Seven…"

"Alright Tinoco. Mother needs to go to work now," she said as she grabbed her daughter's face and kissed her forehead. Then she locked stares with the feline predator. "And YOU, Tyrone, get her to bed by 9 o'clock, ok?"

The cat rolled its bright yellow eyes.

"I'm serious. I'm trying to get her on a sleeping schedule like a normal-"

An annoyed growl cut her off. She sighed, and raised her voice to talk over her counting daughter.

"Fine. 9:30 at the latest."

The cat shrugged, and gave a brief nod.

"I'll be back around 4 am. It's a weekend night." She twisted the handle on their apartment door when Tinoco's helium-pitched voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Tien will be here tonight, mother," she said in between digits, as though it were a bit of news as ordinary as a traffic jam.

Isabel felt a shudder tickle her skin. She looked back, and asked the routine, deciphering questions when her daughter would spout out random stuff like this. "Do you think? Or do you feel?"

"I feel."

_Great_, she thought as her palms started to tingle in anticipation. _How am I supposed to concentrate at work, knowing he might show up any minute?_

Doing her best to shrug it off, Isabel set out for work anyway, more than a little aggravated at how much this Tenshinhan dominated her thoughts these past couple weeks.

* * *

. 

The heavy beat of Wobble Wobble throbbed in the club, penetrating her earplugs and making her body bounce absently to the music. Isabel rested an easy eye on the mottled dance floor.

The night had almost gone without incident, save for a frenzied crack head who had taken to decking people during his gyrations. She'd had him packaged up and ready for the cops in twenty seconds flat, but his drug-induced strength had given her a run for her money. She was sweating when it was over, but grateful for the distraction.

And just when things started feeling normal, Tenshinhan showed up. She noticed him the second his large frame stood conspicuously in the doorway. He wore dark pants and a white shirt like many of the men there, but he still looked about as comfortable as a kitten in a wolverine's den.

Isabel would have laughed if his presence didn't unnerve the hell out of her. Too many bad emotions and even worse memories were associated with his face, and when his piercing eyes found her standing in parade rest against the wall, she froze.

Now that his gaze fixed on something familiar, he didn't look nearly as out of place, and Tenshinhan maneuvered through the social groupings with ease as he approached. It hit her as she watched him move that there was no lingering limp, or wincing at broken ribs. Even the cuts she'd given him seemed to be gone from his face and arms, as though he were completely healed.

It made Isabel nervous, and took every ounce of discipline she had too stay put, fighting either the urge to run away or go and punch him in the face.

He came within a foot of her and stopped, tossing an aggravated glance at the blaring speakers. "When are you…_finished_…here?"

Not knowing what else to say, she answered. "Couple hours…"

He pursed his lips and glared at the speakers again. "I'll wait for you outside."

Though conflicted, she nodded, and he exited the same way he entered, and just as quickly.

Isabel stood there, and watched him go. After five minutes of dread curiosity, she told the manager there was some urgent business to attend to at home. He reluctantly let her go, and she had to keep from running outside.

Tenshinhan stood leaning back against the brick wall of the building with his arms folded and head bowed, his figure silhouetted by a dimming street lamp. When he looked up, his face was cast in shadow, and for some reason it made her stomach lurch.

Again, she went rigid as he approached her, and had to forcefully remind herself that he had changed - that this wasn't the same man who had made her life hell.

"Hey," he said, a slight crinkle in his eyes.

"How did you find me?"

"Your energy flared about an hour ago. It wasn't too difficult."

She hesitated. _The drug addict_… She had to power up to toss him out. "Oh…" She relaxed, but only enough to speak the nagging question that made her leave early in the first place.

"What did you do?"

His mouth opened and then closed. He studied her face.

"Tell me!"

He looked behind her to the gathering of smokers lingering outside the club. "You…" he reached a hand up to touch her shoulder and she jerked away. "You might want to sit down first, Isabel."

She curled her fists in his collar, and got in his face. "What did you do?"

He looked down at her calmly, not intimidated in the least. After several strained seconds he answered.

"I wished your father back."

* * *

. 

The angered anxiety melted off her visage instantly, and her grip on his shirt slackened. Tien braced his hands on her elbows just in case she fainted.

In that brief moment of shock, Isabel didn't discipline her expression, and he saw clearly how her stunned, wide eyes watered up, and how her lower lip quivered. Her hands flattened on his chest, and she rested her forehead head against her knuckles, hiding her face from him.

"You…brought him back?" she managed in a strained voice.

His eyes fixed on the white-haired birthmark atop her brunette crown, and he wondered if he should have waited until they were out of public. "As a whole man," he said with emphasis.

Her breathing became labored, and he fought the urge to put his arms around her, figuring she'd probably deck him. After a minute of being little more use than a pillow to soak her tears, she pushed off him, and wiped her eyes.

"I've got to get home," she said rapidly. "I have to return immediately. My people are suspicious. They might hurt him, thinking he's an evil imposter masquerading as my father."

Tien winced. He hadn't considered that. He watched with growing dread as she began to pace.

"And mother left him while he was still alive…for another man," she continued, her pitch rising in panic. "He might go after them." Then she slapped a hand to her forehead. "Shit! And the Bravados that stole his business… I KNOW he'll want to settle things with them." She turned on him, and he jumped, suddenly being the focus of all that nervous energy.

"Do…do you want me to fly you back?" he asked stupidly.

She looked at him like he was insane. "Are you crazy? What if someone sees us together?" She rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. "Like I'm going to show up with the one person who caused all this trouble in the first place!" Then her eyes narrowed. "The Gomez family never did get the money to build the tavern back up after you torched it, you know."

Tien groaned inwardly as his attempt at penance only seemed to compound his past sins - the path to forgiveness suddenly stretching from within his grasp to eternity.

"Tyrone can take me. He's fast."

Tien frowned. _Tyrone?_

Her eyes widened, and she said as though to herself, "But Tinoco! I can't take her. They still don't know…"

The words came tumbling out before he could think them through. "I'll stay with her."

She flung her gaze at him and her eyes narrowed to slits. For three very long seconds she studied his face. He squirmed under her scrutiny.

"How do I know that I can trust you?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Because Tinoco does?" He knew that Isabel regarded her daughter's judgment as perfect. It was his only argument, and the longer she waited to respond, the more he realized how anxious he was to see the girl again.

Her lips thinned. "Fine." She turned and started running down the street. He followed her. "But don't think that this incident is going to make me loathe you any less!" she tossed over her shoulder.

Tien almost smiled. She wouldn't have felt the need to say it were the words actually true. He could tell by her tone that she was already warming up to him. He just hoped that her visit home would go smoothly, or else he'd end up back at square one.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Chapter 7_**

**THREE DAYS LATER**

"Ok. Now keep your eyes closed."

Grinning from ear to ear, Tinoco closed all three eyes and started counting. Tien levitated in the air so she couldn't hear his footsteps, and hovered over to where the balcony was.

"…Nine. Ten!" With her eyes still closed, she squealed and hopped in place. "Balcony! Balcony!"

He set foot down, his smile mirroring her own. "Yep." She opened her eyes and beamed at him.

"Again!"

He chuckled at her enthusiasm, feeling pretty darn important for being the cause of so much delight. "Ok. One more time. Ya ready?"

She nodded vigorously and clenched her eyes shut. "One…Two…Three…"

Tien hovered past the room and over to the kitchen. He situated himself between the refrigerator and stove, and waited quietly for her to stop counting.

"…Nine…Ten!" She paused for a moment, and Tien could just imagine her face scrunching in concentration. "You're…by Tyrone!"

He frowned. _Huh? _

"I saaaaiiiiidd…you're-by-Tyrone!" she insisted, her helium-pitched voice trailing through the apartment.

Confused, he remained silent. _That's odd, _he thought. _She knows Tyrone is with her mother…_

Then a sudden telepathic scream cut through his awareness like a knife.

_YOU'RE BY TYRONE!_

Tien yelped and came crashing to the floor, his concentration completely broken. Dazed, he pushed himself into a sitting position just in time to be tackled back down by an unnaturally strong 3-year old.

"Umph…!"

Giggling, she slapped his cheeks with both hands and pointed to the refrigerator. "See, silly?"

Still stunned by the sudden revelation that she was telepathic, Tien followed her gaze to a crude, crayon drawing of their black mountain cat. And sure enough, it was hanging right on the fridge.

"I _told _you!"

"Heh…" He shook his head in awe, and then looked up at her sparkling eyes. "Tinoco? Have you, uh, ever done that before?"

She cocked her head, and frowned. "What?"

"Talked without…using your mouth?"

She shrugged, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Mm-hmm."

He sat up, setting her on her feet. "And do people hear you?"

Her copper eyes wandered upwards, as though watching her brain think. "Yeah. They just don't know it's me." Then a mischievous grin curled her lips. "You know what I do sometimes?" she asked anxiously, and then continued before he even had a chance to say, 'what?' "_Sometimes_ I tell people that they peed their pants!"

He blinked, and then laughed outright at her wholly inappropriate usage of a very powerful ability. She brought both hands up to her mouth and giggled. Delighted that she made him laugh, she continued.

"Their eyes get all wide, like this," then she tried to pry his eyelids open for emphasis. He pulled back, still shaking with chuckles. "And they look down at their _privates…_" She clapped her hands then, thrilled to be sharing her secret mischief with someone else. "And you know what else I do?"

Tien tried to conceal his amusement, figuring the last thing he should be doing was encouraging her. But the way her three-year old mind worked was too new to him, and he had no come back prepared for such silliness.

She cupped a hand to her mouth, as though afraid her mother could hear her all the way from the Caído village. "When I see a boy and a girl holding hands," she grabbed his fingers in demonstration, "I tell the boy that the girl _farted_!"

Tien choked, and a loud guffaw escaped his mouth before he could stop it. He shamefully hung his head, trying to stifle his laughter. "Tinoco…" he managed in between snorts, "you really shouldn't…do that."

She nodded her head, snickers whistling between her teeth. "I KNOW!" she agreed, like it was the greatest practical joke in the world. "Sometimes they use _cuss words_ in their heads!"

That caught his attention, and he regained enough composure to question her. "You can hear them, too?"

"Not always," she said. "Only when it's clear."

"Amazing…" She was as telepathically developed as Choatzu was at her age. Tien was only relieved that she'd used the ability as a plaything instead of a weapon. It was fortunate he found her when he did. Then it suddenly dawned on him that she might have heard some of his own unguarded thoughts. "Have you heard…me?"

Tinoco's smile softened, and her eyes crinkled. Tien thought he had never seen so mature an expression on so young a face. She nodded.

He suddenly flushed. "Re-" he cleared his throat. "Really?"

She nodded again. "You're my father," she said quietly, all hint of childishness gone from her expression. "And you love me." Her face suddenly brightened. "You say that one a LOT."

His jaw dropped, and a handful of instances flitted across his mind from the past couple days. Each depicted a moment where his heart was so full it felt like bursting. And sure enough, those very words were what he always thought when basking in the light of precious, little Tinoco. _Agh… I love ya, kid. _

She squeaked. "You just said it again!"

His tear ducts suddenly burned and he gathered her in his arms, resting his brow on her shoulder.

"Aaawwww," she cooed as she patted the back of his head with her tiny hand, no doubt repeating a gesture her mother had used with her.

As he embraced his three-eyed child, he realized that he'd never felt such a fierce devotion to protect and nurture before. Not even with Chaotzu. Guarding his thoughts, he allotted himself some brief introspection to situate the rush of emotions that clouded his judgment and made him feel ten feet tall.

Her affect on him was nothing short of miraculous. She'd made him feel loved and needed when all he wanted to do was drown in the ocean. Her smiles were sincere, and warmed his soul every time he received one. It was the most natural friendship he'd ever had. Their bond was immediate, and deep, and he wondered if Isabel would fight his sudden attachment to her daughter.

_Our daughter,_ he corrected as he released Tinoco and looked at her cherubic face.

"Are you going to stay when mother comes back?" she asked.

He feathered her bangs away from her face. "Not here, but I'll be around, kitten."

She grinned at the nickname he'd given her. "You'll even stay if mother tells you to leave?"

He'd already thought about that. _Your mother can't chase me away. I won't let her._ He nodded. "Yep."

She made a little happy noise. "Good. She scares a lot of people. But she's not a mean person," Tinoco insisted. "Not really."

"I…didn't say she was."

"A lot of people do," she said, eyeing him with brows drawn tight in the center. "They just don't know that she only acts that way because she's sad."

Tien winced, knowing that he alone was responsible for every ounce of sadness that Isabel had felt in her life. "Is she sad…a lot?"

"Yeah… But mostly at night, when she thinks I'm sleeping," then she leaned in and whispered, "I can feel her when she's crying."

_Ouch. _It was plausible. The first person he had bonded with well enough to read like that was Chaotzu, and that's only because Tien's own parents were slaughtered when he was a baby. "I…suppose you would…"

She pursed her lips, the worry over her mother evident in her face. "Maybe you can make her happy, Tien," she said, eyeing him with hope.

His breath caught in his throat. If anyone owed it to the woman, he certainly did. But for some reason, every attempt he made at undoing his wrongs seemed to blow up in his face. "I'll try, kitten," he said as he tousled her chestnut hair. "I'll try."

* * *

. 

Tien was yanked out of his light slumber that night by the sound of a key in the lock. He sat up on the sofa just as Isabel walked into the dark apartment, Tyrone's massive, sleek form en tow. He squinted as she turned on the front room lamp.

She hung her trench coat up on a hook, and threw her pack on the floor. Then, after tossing a brief, noncommittal glance in his direction, she walked briskly down the hallway to Tinoco's room.

Tien sat there and rubbed his eyes with the balls of his palms. Tyrone came and nestled in the corner of the sofa next to him, exhaustion weighing down the feline's brilliant yellow eyes.

Tien knew that the cats of the Caídos had the ability to reason. They responded like people and could understand them to a large degree. Some said it was because the two species had been so intertwined for centuries that they adopted each other's traits; the people developing physical attributes of the felines, while the felines adopting the intelligence of the human species. And Tyrone was no exception.

Tien made eye contact with the creature. "How did it go?" he whispered, confident that the cat didn't loathe him nearly as much as Isabel did.

Tyrone slapped a weary paw over his nose and shook his head.

All the gaiety of the past couple days was whited out by a growing dread. "That bad, huh?"

The monstrous cat rolled his eyes and snorted.

Tien sighed heavily, and contemplated leaving before she came back into the room. But then he thought about Tinoco, and realized he couldn't leave until he knew Isabel would let him come back.

Tien threw a few loose items in his pack, and then fidgeted nervously as he waited for her to return. Then, all too soon, and not soon enough, she strode out of the hallway and glared at him.

"Why are you still here?"

He began to stutter. "I…was, uh…" Good ta hell, she made him nervous… "I just wanted to-"

"What? Don't you have money for a motel?"

"Yes."

"Did you steal it?"

"No."

"Did you counterfeit it?"

"No."

"Then where could it have possibly come from, considering you don't have a job, eh?"

His palms were sweating. "Gold and silver," he explained rapidly so she couldn't cut him off again. "There's a few precious metal deposits I've found in the mountains. I mine them and exchange the gold and silver for currency when it's needed."

She snorted. "Wouldn't that be nice."

"I'll mine them for you and give you the profit if you like-"

"I don't need your help!" she barked, her eyes furious and mouth quivering. Tien regretted being so big in that moment, because he really would have been more comfortable hiding under the rug. He looked at his feet, and tried to figure out the best way to say-

"You can watch her when I work," she suddenly said, in a quiet, defeated tone, turning away from him.

"I…what?"

"You heard me," she snapped. "Unless you don't want the responsibility - "

"No! It's…fine. I just…expected you to resist the idea, that's all."

She faced him again, her eyes cast in shadow…her expression unreadable. He shifted uncomfortably on the sofa as she studied him. Finally she shook her head, and he realized how exhausted she was from the trip.

"You've done nothing to deserve her love, Tenshinhan, but you have it," she said wearily, "I don't have the heart to separate you two."

Tien would have jumped up in the air and clicked his heels had the bit of news not disappointed the woman so profoundly. Anxious to get out of that shrinking room, he grabbed his bag and made a wide circle around Isabel to the door. "When do you work next?" he asked.

"Tomorrow night at seven," she said.

He nodded, and as he grabbed the handle, hesitated. "Isabel…"

She turned only enough to see him in the corner of her slitted eye. "What?"

"Thank you."

"Get out of here."

He shut the door behind him, and made for the nearest hotel. As the cool night air chilled his face, he contemplated just how much his life was going to change, now that it had a direction to go in.

And the strangeness of it all was that he figured he could go the rest of his life without training as long as Tinoco was a part of it. And if the only thing he did with the remainder of his days was to dedicate them to his newfound daughter, then that would be sufficient. He could be happy.

And maybe…just _maybe_ he could help to heal Isabel along the way.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Chapter 8_**

**ONE MONTH LATER**

"So tell me, Tenshinhan," Isabel said as she trudged through the salty sand next to him. "What exactly _is_ the deal with a third eye?"

The unexpected question broke about five minutes of awkward silence between them as they made their way to the tide pools along the beach. In front of them, weaving back and forth in zigzags strode Tyrone with a delighted Tinoco saddled on his back.

Tien took a moment to collect his thoughts. It was one of the few times Isabel initiated a conversation with him, and he wasn't going to disappoint her. Their odd relationship was strained beyond belief, but she seemed to be thawing out around him lately, acting a little less tense. After all, she accompanied them to practice Tinoco's latest skill today, hadn't she?

He looked over at the darkly beautiful Caída. She'd left her thick brunette hair down, and the ocean breeze caused it to billow about her face like dancing rivulets. Her clothes weren't fancy - ripped, faded levis, and a snug yellow shirt - but on her tall, lithe figure they seemed a fashion statement. Against his better judgment, Tien had come to realize that she pretty much looked good in anything.

Isabel glanced up at him, her warm feline eyes lit with curiosity.

"The third eye…" he looked down at his shuffling feet, figuring he'd be able to concentrate better if he weren't looking at her. "I never had a mentor who knew, so everything I've discovered has been from years of self-study.

"And what I've found out is that, in short, it's a key to hidden abilities. Like a direct link to the soul. But whether it's a cause or effect of additional powers, I'm not sure."

"So if I poked your eye out, you might not lose these…gifts?"

He winced at the visual of her comment. "I don't know," he said, eyeing her nervously. "But I'd rather not find out."

A hint of amusement crinkled her eyes, as though pleased that she'd made him squirm. "You say 'hidden abilities' like everyone has them."

"I believe they do."

"Really?"

He nodded. "They say humans only use ten percent of their brain in life. What I believe, and more importantly, what I _feel_," he glanced up at her for emphasis, "is that I've been given access to a good deal more than that."

"Funny. I don't see you as being overly intelligent."

"Intellect isn't one of the doors that have been opened to me."

She snorted. "Obviously."

A surprised chuckle escaped his lips. "You're teasing me," he accused, enjoying the banter. "You've never done that before."

"Hmph." She looked up to catch him staring at her, and turned away, but not before he saw a tiny grin curl the corners of her mouth. Feeling as though he'd just won a small victory, Tien continued.

"My 'gifts' have aided my ability to fight," he said. "Or that's what I've used them for, anyhow; vicarious learning of a technique, spiritual enlightenment to enhance my strength, raising the concentration of my energy to intensify ki blasts…"

"Hmm…" She was quiet for a moment and then looked right at him. "So how strong _are_ you?"

He hung his head, and felt the blood rush to his face. The Saiyans, and Piccolo were all more powerful fighters. But they were also aliens. He considered Yamcha, and Krillin, and those two came close to his own skill, but they still fell short. Tien wasn't one to brag. Really, he wasn't. But…

"I like to think I'm the most powerful human on the planet," he admitted quietly.

Her brows raised at his bold assumption. He fixated on the lacing in his shoes as her scrutinizing gaze turned his flush crimson.

"You're not kidding, are you?" she said after several very uncomfortable seconds of studying him.

He shot a quick, embarrassed glance up and then right back down. He shook his head, no.

She blew her breath out in a whistle. "That's one hell of a legacy to pass on to my daughter, Tenshinhan," she said, and he almost thought he heard a hint of pride in her voice. "But I can't believe you would have given all that up so I could avenge my father," she said in wonderment.

An old pang of guilt made him wince. He struggled with the next words. "It was…the right thing to do."

"Hmm…" She studied him for a moment and then looked back ahead. "Well, your pathetic altruism almost damned my conscience to hell, Mister," she jabbed. "It's a good thing I didn't go through with it, or else you would have passed that guilt onto me, and then _I_ would have been the one feeling like shit for the rest of my life."

Tien smiled and looked ahead at the three-year old bundle of smiles and mischief weaving back and forth on the huge mountain cat. His heart, as usual, expanded at the sight of her. He looked back at Isabel, a twinkle in his eye. "I don't think I ever thanked you for not killing me."

She rolled her eyes. "Spare me."

He grinned, and a few moments of less comfortable silence passed between them.

"So what can you do?" she asked. "Or more importantly, what are you teaching my daughter?"

Tien looked up, as they had reached the rock outcropping. "That's what we're going to show you."

He reached down and picked up two fist-sized rocks at the base of the tide pools, and then grabbed a squealing Tinoco and set her on her feet. She began clap her hands vigorously, while giggling incoherencies.

"Okay, kitten," he said as he squatted to her eye level and tapped her forehead. "Are you going to be able to concentrate?"

She managed to calm down enough to hold still, then her chin bobbed in a rigid nod.

Tien smiled and tousled her hair. Then he took a few steps back and placed the rocks in the sand. It was a simple exercise, and one she'd nearly mastered over the past couple weeks. Then he stepped back and stood alongside a curious Isabel, his arms folded heavily across his chest.

Tinoco's smile faded, and she fixated on the rocks. Suddenly, her eyes flared and one of the rocks began to levitate, hovering several feet in the air.

Tien heard Isabel gasp. "Great Caído," she muttered, astonished. "That's tele…tele…"

"Telekinesis," he whispered back as he watched their daughter. "Now watch this."

Suddenly the expression on Tinoco's face intensified and the second rock lifted into the air, dancing about the first. Isabel's hands flew up to her mouth.

"I don't believe it…"

"You see," Tien said in hushed tones, "she's manipulating two objects, not one, which is something that took me a year of practice to master." His chest swelled with pride as he watched Tinoco. "She's very gifted. Maybe even more so than I."

Isabel nudged him, not able to take her eyes off their daughter. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be teaching her this stuff at such a young age?"

Tien shrugged. "Better to be taught to control it than find out by accident," he said as he recalled the day he'd realized that he had such a skill. "When I found out I could do this, it was at the expense of a very prestigious mage who worked for the emperor."

"What happened?"

Tien remembered the man's lashing tongue, and condescending glare, and then he remembered thinking that it looked as though the man had been plucked into the sky by an invisible hand, and unceremoniously tossed over the palace walls into the pond below.

He snorted. "Let's just say that wizards don't float." Then he smirked. "Well, not that one, anyways."

She looked at him, and her astonished eyes narrowed in amusement. "Well, I guess as long as she can control it…"

The rocks dropped and Tinoco hopped up and down, immensely proud of herself. "Did you see, mother? Did you see?"

"That was AMAZING, Tinoco!" she applauded.

"Wanna see what else I can do?"

Isabel nodded enthusiastically.

Tien frowned. _Another skill? _

Suddenly, the woman next to him screamed as she was yanked up into the air by some invisible force. She looked at the ground in wide-eyed panic, her limbs flailing about as though to give her some sense of balance in a situation she had no control over.

Tien gasped as he tried to position himself under Isabel's rapidly ascending body. "Put her down, Tinoco!" he cried. "She's too big for you to control!"

"I caaaannn't!" the girl whined.

Isabel yelped as she began to twirl in the wind, heading out over the water. Having no other option, Tien centralized his energies and lifted into the air after her, and it was a good thing he did. No sooner had he caught up to her than Tinoco lost the hold, and her mother came tumbling into his arms.

She cried out as he caught her, and after one stressed glance at the ground below, clutched both hands in his shirt. "Oh, that little turkey!" she hissed hysterically in between breaths.

"You're safe-"

She whimpered like a frightened pup and buried her face in his neck. The feel of her lips on his jugular nearly made him drop her, and he fought to stay coherent as she panted on the skin below his ear.

He could feel her heart racing, and he wasn't faring so well himself, suddenly assaulted by Isabel's familiar scent of peppermint and peaches - reminiscent of the insane day he'd woken up next to her in bed.

"It's ok," he said softly, as he curled his arms around her. "I've got you."

"Ya damn well better have me," she breathed on his neck. "Considering this is your fault."

"I didn't think she'd try…something…so bold," he said, wondering crazily if Isabel would say the same thing about him if he gave in to the sudden, overwhelming urge to kiss her.

He descended and tapped down, only to realize a split second later as the water penetrated his pants that he'd landed in the ocean. "Ah, _hell_…"

It came up to his thighs, and Isabel jolted when she opened her eyes. Scooped up in his arms as she was, her back end was just inches from the water and she squirmed higher in his embrace, frowning at him.

"What are you doing?" she shouted while struggling to put as much distance between her butt and the water as possible.

"Stop wiggling."

"Adding insult to injury?"

"N-no…I…" Tien was vaguely aware of Tinoco's giggling from the shore a few yards away, but he was doubly aware of the girl's mother in his arms, and the water lapping at his legs. "I didn't intend to…" he shifted stiffly as a wave brushed up against him, "drop down here…"

Her jaw dropped, and brows furrowed. "You're the strongest human in the world, and yet you're too scatterbrained to land on solid ground instead of water!"

"Hey, _you_ were the one breathing on my neck!" he countered before thinking, his hot blood rushing to his face the second the words left his mouth.

Her copper eyes widened, and she gaped at him for all of one second before a big wave came and knocked into both of them.

Tien hissed at the cold, and tried to raise her above it, but it was too late. She cried out as it soaked her lower half.

"TENSHINHAN!"

"It wasn't me! It was the wave!" He said stupidly, and then immediately cowered in anticipation of a verbal thrashing. But the ass-chewin' never came. Instead, the flabbergasted Caída did something wholly unexpected.

She laughed.

Tien watched in stunned fascination as her form began to tremble next to his with suppressed chuckling. After a couple seconds, she gave into it and threw her head back in uncontained laughter. The sound was delightful and contagious, and with a smile on his face he began to wade back to shore with the giggling woman in his arms.

He studied her visage under the cover of shared amusement, but secretly couldn't take his eyes off her brilliant smile, and crinkled eyes. It was the most attractive expression he'd seen on her face yet, and when he touched the dry sand it was with great reluctance that he set her down.

She left a warm hand lingering on his chest as she tried to balance during her fit of chuckling. Still snorting, she wiped the laughter-induced tears from her eyes and shook her head. "Remind me to stay home next time you want to show me something, Tien. And that goes for you too, Tinoco!"

He would have had a comeback had he not been so stunned by her unexpected usage of his shortened name. It was another hurdle crossed.

Isabel finally straightened, and with a smile, winked at him.

_Oh,_ he thought wildly. _Do that again…_

Then, in an echo to his thoughts, Tinoco chimed up. "Tien thinks you're pretty when you smile, mother!"

He choked, rendered utterly speechless at her audacious intrusion of his thoughts.

"Well," Isabel managed after a few moments, definite amusement lightening her tone, "I think it's time we headed back," she said. "ONE of us has to work in a couple hours, and thanks to _both_ of you, I'm going to need a shower."

Tyrone went up and nudged Tinoco with his nose, and she hopped up and situated herself atop the massive beast.

_You did that on purpose! _Tien accused silently, sending her a mental image of her skyward mother dangling helplessly over the ocean waves. _You knew I'd have to rescue her!_

Tinoco met his accusing gaze with a mischievous grin.

Tien grumbled. _So devious, so young... _

She laughed outright, then. _You landed in the WATER!_

Isabel must have seen the look on his face as he glared at their daughter, because she came and stood between them, still dripping wet from the dousing waves. "Alright, you two. Enough of that private chatter. I've had my fill of special abilities today, understand?" The reprimand was uncharacteristically good-natured. Tien felt himself flush again as he met her gaze and he looked down at his feet, trying his best not to shout, 'She started it!'

"_Understand_?"

Tinoco nodded while Tien mumbled an affirmative.

"Good. Then let's go home."


	9. Chapter 9

**_Chapter 9_**

_Tien thinks you're pretty when you smile, mother!_

For the hundredth time that night Tinoco's lilting voice echoed in Isabel's head, along with a replay of the stunned look on Tenshinhan's handsome face as though the girl had snatched the thought from his very mind.

Isabel snorted. _She probably did. _

Then she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. _Well, his smile ain't so bad, either…_ The loud music of the club had kept her from delving into a deep self-analysis of their time at the beach today, something she would eventually have to do. As a result, only pleasant memories flitted across her mind, like the delight in his eyes when he caught her teasing him, or the way he called Tinoco 'kitten', or how the heat radiated off his heavy chest, even through the cold of the water…

She was forced to see her nemesis in a new light, and it left her conflicted, confused, nervous… Try though she might to maintain her righteous indignation, he was eroding down her barriers, one by one.

And it was because he loved Tinoco as much as she did.

_Well,_ she thought as she considered his patient nature, and kind expression, _that and everything else about him. _After years of maintaining her hatred for him, she was finally losing momentum. All of a sudden, it just didn't seem to matter anymore.

Feeling a girlish giddiness that Isabel hadn't felt in years, she left work that night with her head in the clouds. She went through the mechanics of the trek home, though she probably could have been sleepwalking for all that she paid attention. Fortunately, she arrived without incident.

When she opened the door to the apartment, her breath caught in her throat from what she saw.

Tenshinhan had fallen asleep on the sofa, and curled up on his chest like a cat on a rug, was a snoring Tinoco. Her white, frilly pajamas by some coincidence matched his shirt, and her hair had been sloppily braided behind her head. He had one giant hand resting lightly on her back, and she rose and fell with each of his breaths, as comfortable and natural with him as a babe in the womb.

She watched the tender scene, almost mesmerized, her feelings for this man bombarding her whether she was ready for them or not. And her mental tumble left her with one terrifying conclusion. She was-

"Mmm…" His eyes fluttered open, and a small smile tipped the corners of his lips. "Hey," he whispered lazily, and then closed his lids again. It was one word, but for some reason it gave her butterflies, and she wondered how it would feel if she were the one curled up on his chest, with his warm arm draped across her shoulders…

Isabel shook herself. _It's late. Damn head's not screwed on straight. _She walked over and slid her arms under Tinoco. Her daughter shifted as she picked her up.

"Mam�" she muttered as she rested her head sleepily on Isabel's shoulder.

"Hey, angel." She briskly carried the girl to her room where Tyrone was nestled on top of the covers. Isabel laid Tinoco gently down next to the big cat and covered her up. Then with a kiss on both of their foreheads she exited quietly and closed the door.

Tien was sitting up, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands when she walked back in the front room. "How was work?" he asked quietly, looking at her with sleepy eyes.

_Well_, she thought crazily,_ I couldn't concentrate because I was thinking about you the entire time._ "It was work."

"No brawls to break up?"

She shrugged. "Not on a week night."

"Hmm…" This was usually the part where he got up and left, or if he didn't, it was the part where she would tell him to leave. But tonight was different. She almost found herself inviting him to stay.

"Do you like working there?" he asked suddenly, meeting her gaze with curious eyes.

"Like it?" she snorted. "It's a job. I'd rather be home with my daughter just like any other decent mother."

He looked contemplative then, despite his heavy lids. She was suddenly very curious as to what he was thinking. After several moments of silence, he rested his hands on the sofa as though for support, and took a deep breath.

"Isabel…"

She waited.

"I…I was thinking."

She blinked. "…yes?"

"Well, my friend Chaotzu…" he proceeded to say something about going to live in a palace, but she missed the details.

At the mention of Tenshinhan's comrade, a visual of the only time she'd seen the clown-faced boy shackled her awareness, forcing her to suddenly remember the worst day of her life in brutal detail. And with it came old sentiments, an acute sense of injustice, and an oath of revenge…

It only snowballed from there, picking up momentum as she relived every other chink in her happiness that this man before her had somehow caused, had stolen from her…

_Thief, brute, murderer, rapist…_

Suddenly the audacity of her earlier affections for him manifested itself in horrified denial, and Isabel began to tremble.

* * *

.

Tien's words trailed off as he noticed the change in her demeanor. When she started to shake, his gut instinct was to comfort her, but something about the way she was looking at him rendered him immobile. A dread chill spun down his spine like a spider, and he sat there, waiting for the maelstrom in her eyes to be expressed with invective.

She spun her back to him, and her words came trailing from her body like an ignited fuse. "You know, Tenshinhan, I never saw you walk away the day you paralyzed my father…"

_Oh no… _

"When you threw me into the crowd like a rag doll, my head collided with an old woman's, knocking us both unconscious." She turned around, her jaw muscles jumping in spasms, her eyes on fire. "I recovered from the concussion, but she didn't fare so well. Her speech was slurred for the rest of her days.

"But it only begins there," she said as her eyes glossed over with tears. "The torturous state you left papá in was a far worse punishment than death. His spirit died before he did, and I had to watch it _all_…"

Tien hadn't realized how hard he'd been gripping the sofa until his fingers punctured the material.

"And then _I_ was the one who found him that morning, with his brains splattered against the wall like an abstract painting of war," she hissed, her voice rising in pitch. "And even in death, his empty eyes were anguished."

She began to pace, each of her words stabbing at him like a knife in the gut. "He was my idol, my life! And you took him away from me in the worst way possible!" she cried in a strangled tone meant to be a whisper, the tears spilling down her cheeks.

Tien's throat constricted, and he came to the morbid realization that her emotional sandblasting had ten times the effect of his earlier flashbacks. But the worst part was that he'd been happy a few minutes ago. Honestly, truly happy for the first time ever, having a sense of completeness and inner peace around Tinoco and Isabel.

And it was ebbing away in the face of reality. It had all been surreal. He had no right to be a part of their lives. None at all… He had been the cause of too much pain…

"I disowned the woman who gave birth to me," she continued, her wet eyes impaling him to the sofa. "Circumstance forced me into an early independence, and a couple years later, my life showed signs of becoming normal again. I fell in love with a good and honorable man whose family took me in unconditionally. We set a date to be married…"

Just when he thought he couldn't feel any worse, Tien's heart hit the floor. _Kami… Don't tell me she'd been engaged when…_

"And then a MONTH before the wedding, YOU show up on that unspeakable day and got me pregnant!" she hissed, her frame wracked with sobs. "So not only did I cheat on my fiancé - the only person to show me any affection since my world fell apart, but I did so with the man who paralyzed my father, handicapped an old woman, and burned down the tavern that belonged to my betrothed's family. Yeah, you bastard. It was THEIR tavern!"

Breathing became difficult, and Tien hung his head between his knees with his hands clasped behind his neck. Had it been any other person, he would have fled. But _this_… He'd merited this lectural tirade ten times over.

"And so I," she hiccupped and her next words were inarticulate, "I fled."

He knew how reclusive the Caídos were, and had never known one to leave the confines of their quaint villages until Isabel. It hurt him twice as much to consider how terrified she must have been, and the same sensation that formed a lump in his throat made its way to his tear ducts.

"But do you know what kept me going?" she was outright sobbing by now, and he didn't need special abilities to feel how tainted her soul was with angst. He felt it with heart-wrenching clarity. "The promise of revenge, Tenshinhan.

"So when time and distance made me lose momentum, I'd _force_ myself to remember all the injustice you had caused, the havoc you wreaked on my life, and I'd do this over and over until the ire was just as white-hot as the day you first set foot in my town!

"Do you have any idea what it's like to hold a grudge for so long? My animosity for you poisoned my spirit, and poor Tinoco was raised in the shadow of it," she choked and took several seconds to regain enough composure to continue. He saw the little droplets of tears wet the carpet by her feet as he looked down in shame, regret, and an unprecedented guilt…

"And then you show up, and dangle the carrot of retribution in my face. But you'd changed," she gasped in between words. "Why…couldn't you have…stayed the same?

The words 'I'm sorry' hung on Tien's lips, unable to break free for the sheer inadequacy of their effect.

"And THEN you physically brought back a man who was still spiritually dead. You healed his body, but not his soul!" she cried. "When I finally found him, he was rocking back and forth staring at the home he once lived in as though chained to its memory for all of eternity."

"Isabel," he finally managed without looking up. "I didn't know-"

"All that made him happy was gone! Including me. Before I left, I took him to the home of the only people whom I knew would take him in. My fiancé's family, forcing me to face the disappointment and hurt I'd caused them all over again.

"And when I left without letting them know where I'd been, or where I was going, do you know what he said to me?" her voice cracked, and then next words came out in squeaks. "He said, 'You are dead to me, Isabel! You're…dead to…me!'"

The water in Tien's eyes spilled over and he clutched at his ears as though they were burning his skull.

He heard her slump on the floor before him, but he couldn't bring himself to look up. Crying was a sensation almost new to him, and he hid his tears from her as though they were hideous birthmarks on his face.

"So you want to make it up to me, Tenshinhan?" she wept, her voice drenched in emotional sarcasm. "You want to make it up to me? Then give me back all those years lost to hatred and bitterness! And then stay the hell out of my life!"

* * *

. 

Isabel spat out her last remark with all the vehemence she could muster. He didn't respond, but she knew he heard her clearly, because he had flinched at every word she said. But his head was bowed, as though trying to dodge the full impact of her accusations. It only made her angrier.

"Look at me!" she hissed.

His head shook lightly, ragged, hissing breaths sounding from his hidden mouth.

"Look at me, Tenshinhan!" With what little ire she had left, she reached down and yanked his chin up until their eyes met.

The emotion in his face made her gasp.

The dim light caught on the wet teary sheen of his cheeks, and his teeth were clenched, as though in effort to force his tear ducts closed. Remorse, anguish, regret were all displayed in their purest form on his visage, and she suddenly remembered that he'd just parted with his best friend, _and_ been rejected by the love of his life not two months ago… And here she was making him atone for sins he'd already offered up his life for.

Her breath caught in her throat. _What have I done?_

He collected his shuddering breath enough to squeeze a couple defeated words out. "I'll…leave…"

She held a hand up to his mouth as he tried to stand, and in an irrational act of crazed apology, she grabbed his face with both hands, and fell on his lips in a kiss.

Startled, he let out a small noise of surprise, and fell back, but her grip on his head was firm, and she pinned him against the pillows of the sofa, pouring her soul into it. His mouth was hesitant under her own, his hands gripping her sides as though unsure unsure whether or not to pull her to him or push her away.

But the tangy warmth of his kiss felt better than all her ranting and raving combined, and if it weren't for his obvious reluctance she might have made out with him for the rest of the night.

It was only when she felt the remainder of her animosity melt away, however, that she had the control to release him. Stunned at her own audacity, Isabel sat back and tried to catch her breath.

He gaped at her from his position on the sofa, his flushed, tear-streaked face a mix of residual anguish, passion and bewilderment all in one. "You're…confusing me," he breathed, his glossed eyes searching her face for some kind of enlightenment.

"I…" She broke away from his conflicted expression, and stood with her back to him. "I think I'm falling in love with you, Tenshinhan," she said quietly, the words stinging like a thousand betrayals in her heart. "And it's…_wrong_."

She went to leave the room, but stopped herself as she realized that one more thing needed to be said. "Forget tonight ever happened. It was a mistake," she said solemnly, recalling her angry words and the intimate kiss. "All of it."

Without waiting for him to respond, she walked down the hall and to her room, locking the door behind her.

She didn't hear the front door shut until twenty minutes later, but even then it took Isabel several more hours for sleep to finally claim her.

And it was a restless sleep, at that.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Chapter 10_**

Tien hovered silently above the Caído village, his long trench coat flapping like a leather wing in the wind. It was a moonless night, and the few hazy town lights did little to illuminate his camouflaged form as he secretly observed the quiet streets below.

His collar was pulled all the way up around his face, and for the first time since he was a child, he hid his eye under the cover of a heavy, black hood. There was a bone-chilling crispness to the air, but that didn't stop his palms from sweating. For the thousandth time since he left Isabel's apartment a week ago, he second-guessed himself.

_What the hell am I doing here? This is going to backfire, just like every other attempt I've made at undoing my past. And then she'll write me off for good, and take Tinoco with her…_

And equally for the thousandth time, her words rang in his head…

_I think I'm falling in love with you, Tenshinhan. And it's…wrong._

In the midst of that chaotic, confusing moment his heart had suddenly leapt, and then sank right back down again, and he knew that if it was wrong, then he had to somehow make it right. Fate had brought them together again, and the more he thought about it, the more he believed his destiny was alongside hers.

Isabel had told him to forget that night had happened. He snorted. Like _that_ was a possibility. Even now, a week later, he could still feel her hands grabbing his face, the wet softness of her lips, the warm pressure of her body from when she'd caged him against the sofa…

When she'd walked out of that front room, he almost went after her. Had their past been any less complicated, Tien imagined he probably would have. But his placement in her life was as delicate as a butterfly wing, and after several minutes of indecision, and calculating, he came to the conclusion that brought him here tonight.

To heal her spirit was to somehow heal Domingo's. The chances were miniscule of him accomplishing that, but what else could he do? He couldn't just ignore their history and manipulate her into a relationship that she would hate more than love… The memory of his telepathic conversation with Tinoco before he left, replayed in his head.

_Tinoco. Kitten… Wake up. I have to tell you something…_

Her mental response came back a second later, groggy with lethargy. _…Tien? _

It's me. Listen. I'm going to leave for a few days

Leaving?

I'll come back. I promise.

Pause. _Where are you going? _

Many places. Just don't let your mother run away while I'm gone, okay?

Another pause, and he could feel her probing his mind. He put up his mental barriers, but not before she could sense the sincerity in his words. _Is it to help make mother happy?_

He hesitated._ Yes. _

Ok. Just hurry back.

I will.

After that, he'd left the apartment and went straight to Chaotzu's empire. He'd spent more time with his old friend than planned, to help put down a rebellion headed by the prior dictator's priests. It was small, but had somehow laced through the population like a spider web. After they'd been weeded out, the people rejoiced and showed good signs of supporting their new emperor. Chaotzu had full control of the palace, and Tien had never seen his dear friend so alive with purpose.

He recalled seeing Chaotzu pouring over several large documents on a massive round table with a few key laymen at his sides. Chaotzu radiated authority, and surprisingly fit the role of ruler better than Tien would have thought possible. The good thing was, there were plenty of positions open for government staff, councilors, muscle…

Tien figured, and Chaotzu agreed, that Domingo could have his pick. A Caído would have little trouble fitting into a place where the emperor was a clown-faced, magical boy. And how better to start a new life than with a highbrow, high-pay position serving others? It was his for the taking. All Tien had to do was talk him into it… Which would probably be about as easy as coercing Vegeta into wearing a tutu and pirouetting.

Tien grimaced and mentally thwacked himself for such a disturbing visual. _Ugh…_

His attention was absently drawn to a heavy weight on his belt from a sack of gold he'd mined earlier. That was for the Gomez family tavern, and the money he'd taken. And tucked safely in his pocket was a handful of senzu beans just in case he had to endure the same thrashing that Isabel dished out to prove that he'd changed. Or worse…

_Kami… _He gulped. _I am NOT looking forward to this…_

A familiar ki flared below, and Tien floated above the town until he found its source. Be it coincidence or fate, Domingo was walking the streets with all the aimlessness and anxiety of a ghost of yesterday trapped in the present. Tien felt his stomach drop out. Sucking in a deep breath, he straightened his collar around his face in hopes that he could get a few key apologies in while the Caído was still objective - before he realized who was standing before him.

Then, Tien dropped down just a couple feet behind the man's terse form, wishing for all the world that there could have been another way.

"Domingo…"

* * *

. 

Tenshinhan had been gone for two weeks. Two. He hadn't left a note, hadn't said where he was going, when he was coming back… Isabel kept trying to tell herself it was for the better, and she might have actually succeeded in buying into that notion, had Tinoco not insisted he would return.

And because Tinoco said it, she believed it. She'd be a fool to think otherwise. So it was that her thoughts were inundated with the three-eyed warrior - especially at night when there were no more distractions to keep her mind otherwise occupied.

She barely noticed the chill in the air as she walked home from work, this particular night. As usual, Isabel volleyed back and forth on his odd placement in their lives. Would letting him tag along insult her battered dignity? Or would it maybe, just maybe, help to heal the wounds he had created?

Either way, kissing him like that had to be the most out of character thing she'd ever done. She regretted it more often than not, wondering if that's what chased him away. It was certainly uncalled for, just as her tirade had been two seconds earlier. He only confirmed her conflicted treatment of him with the last thing he said.

_You're…confusing me._

She snorted. What an understatement. Of course he'd been stupefied. She emotionally flogged him, reducing the warrior to tears, and then she turned right around and kissed him more passionately than she'd kissed anyone. Hell yeah, he'd be confused. Who wouldn't be?

She certainly was. But for all the analysis she'd given the topic, it was still no less clear than it had been the day she'd decided to spare his life - which made her totally unprepared for his abrupt return when she got home.

She opened the door to her apartment to find him standing against the window, silhouetted by the streetlights below. His tall, shadowed presence stole the breath from her lungs, having all the effect of both ends of a magnate. It took a conscious effort to stay her ground when all she wanted to do was throw her arms around his neck, or run away. Anything but stand still.

"Isabel…"

When he whispered her name, it caused a deluge of emotions to hit her in the face like a bucket of warm water; anger, desire, nervousness, relief, and a sentiment richer than all those combined - one she'd been trying to deny for weeks now…

"How could you just leave like that?" she hissed suddenly. "You can't just pop in and out of our lives! Do you have any idea how much Tinoco missed you?"

He said nothing, but his penetrating eyes were heavy with apology. His gaze on her didn't waver as he crossed the room to give her a piece of parchment he'd been holding in his hand. He radiated warmth like a heat lamp, making her doubly aware of his close proximity. She hesitantly took the note from him.

"What is this?" she muttered, flipping it over.

He said nothing. He didn't need to. The letter was addressed in a penmanship similar to her own, to,_ 'Mi Hija'_. She blinked._ Papÿ_

Her hands started to shake, and dread filled her. "What did you do this time, Tenshinhan?"

"Read it," he said softly.

Too stunned to do anything else, Isabel fumbled with the parchment until it opened.

* * *

_Querida Isabel,_

_My circumstance - living off the charity of others - was more than I could tolerate in our village. Words cannot express how sorry I am for all that I put you through, and the last thing I said. Please forgive me. I didn't mean it._

_

* * *

_

Isabel's vision blurred and she had to blink out the water standing in her eyes in order to continue.

_

* * *

_

_The stranger who took my life away wants to give it back to me, and I believe it's the least he can do. It was an opportunity I realized almost too late, as he offered me the same shot at retribution as he had you. _

But I return him to you whole, so that he may continue to make amends. It is all still unsettling. More than I can stomach. Please be patient with me, as it will take a while to accept that he is part of your life.

Know that I love you. You're all I have. You've always made me proud, and perhaps our lives can return to some semblance of normalcy in the clown boy's empire if you choose to join me there. He has offered me employment in the government of his people. Not that I can see myself in politics, but it's a position that will enable me to help others, and I can't think of a better way to take my mind of my own sorrows than by dwelling on the problems of a community.

It was easier to leave than I had thought, and I already feel a tad saner from the departure. It makes me wonder how many of our Caído traditions are holding our people back. I've been welcomed here with open arms, and already some of my earlier assumptions about other races are being undermined by the reality that we're all so much alike.

I hope you decide to come. All of you. I have mixed feelings on Tinoco, but if she's as mischievous and endearing as you were at that age, I'm sure it'll be impossible not to love her.

As for Tenshinhan, I still cringe when I think about him. But that's reflex. I believe he and his comrade have done what they could to right their wrongs, and though I'll never forget what happened, I can work on accepting their apology. After all, they have become men of honor, their good in protecting this planet outweighing their early years in harming it.

Again, I love you. I have three proposals and a few resumes to sift through on my desk, or else I'd make this letter longer. Caído knows there's so much more than needs to be said, but perhaps we can say it in person, eh?

Until then, my darling daughter. Cuídate. Te amo mas que sepas,

Papá

* * *

Tears were falling and replenishing themselves at a disconcerting rate down Isabel's face, and she held a hand up to her mouth, stifling the sobs.

"I thought to bring him here, but the first priority seemed to be getting him relocated to a place where he was needed. The village was making him crazy," he said, as though that in itself was sufficient to explain the letter in her hands.

"Is…this for real?" She stammered.

His eyes looked gentle, and he nodded.

Too many reactions hit her at once, the most dominant one, fear. "And just where would your stupid attempt at penance have landed us had he actually killed you, eh?" she snapped. "The guilt would have driven my father to suicide, a-_gain_, Tinoco would have cried herself into a drought from the loss…" she broke off before she threw herself into the list of casualties.

He smiled ruefully then, and she wanted to slap him, kiss him and cry on his shoulder all at once.

"I wouldn't have let him."

She snorted, recalling the bludgeoning he'd received at her hands. "Yeah, right."

A few seconds of unbearably awkward silence passed between them. She looked anywhere but his eyes, the heat of his gaze too much for her to handle.

"So what do you expect me to do? Just pick up and leave?" She tried her best to sound aggravated, but the words came out sounding hopeful. Truth was, it was _exactly_ what she wanted to do. Leave. With Tien, Tinoco, and Tyrone and live happily ever after in a castle. Who wouldn't?

He reached down and grabbed her fingers, rubbing the inside of her palm with his thumb. A second later, she was looking into his pleading, almost desperate eyes as he brought her hand up to his face and kissed the soft part of her wrist.

"Let yourself love me, Isabel," he whispered so intensely that she felt the words penetrate her body and tickle down her spine. "Please…"


	11. Epilogue

**_Epilogue_**

**TWO MONTHS LATER**

Isabel sat with her arms wrapped around her knees on a grassy slope in the palace courtyard. She couldn't help the smile that lifted the corners of her mouth as she watched Tien, Chaotzu, and Tinoco play a telekinetic version of Keep Away from Tyrone. The gigantic mountain cat growled, and hopped from one to the other as they passed a yellow frisbee between them in a perpetual triangle.

"You know, Tyrone could catch it easily if he was really trying," purred a deep voice from beside her.

Isabel looked over at the man who had given her her copper irises and chestnut hair. His eyes were crinkled in just the barest hint of amusement as he watched the game. He stood in parade rest, with his white button up shirt, and smart pants, and carried an air of dignity that looked better on him than any king or emperor. He looked down at her and smiled.

"True," she said, keeping her admiration to herself. "But he likes it when Tinoco laughs."

"Mmm." He looked back up. "As does the girl's father."

Isabel blinked. It was the first time she had heard her father acknowledge Tien without bitterness or a twitch of unease. She followed his stare until her eyes also rested on the three-eyed warrior. His booming laughter filled up the courtyard as Tyrone, who was apparently sick of the game, swatted the frizbee out of the air just before it reached him, and then flattened Tien to the ground.

Tinoco squealed, hopped and scuttled over to tackle the big cat. Good-natured, as always, Tyrone obliged and rolled off the man, who immediately caught Tinoco up in his arms and hugged her to him. The child-like expression on Tien's face belied his masculine stature and life experience - just another wonderful reminder that she'd made the right decision in letting him into her heart.

"Bueno, mi hija, I have work to do. _Somebody_ has to cover for little Choatzu when he's off goofing with my granddaughter."

She smiled. "Thanks for stopping by, Papá."

He leaned down, kissed the top of her head, and strode off down the marble-tiled hallway.

She looked back out to see Tien's gaze resting on her. As soon as her father disappeared around the corner, he hopped up, set Tinoco on top of Tyrone and jogged over, plopping down behind her.

"He stayed longer this time than usual," he said as he wrapped both arms around her waist and pulled her against him. She sighed as she leaned back. His embrace was so encompassing, it was like taking a warm bath whenever he hugged her.

"I think he's getting more comfortable around you," she admitted, and then felt her heartbeat quicken as he started trailing little kisses up and down her neck. It almost made her laugh. He was more affectionate than she'd ever imagined, even in public, which surprised her. It were as though he were making up for all the loveless years of his harsh life.

Most of her resentment had faded to nothing, burned away by the brightness of their matrimony. Old scars couldn't hold a candle to how complete he made her feel when she was with him, or to the joy she felt at watching him play with Tinoco. It was a life she stopped hoping for long ago, and now that she actually had it, it was almost surreal.

She brought her right hand up and rested it on his cheek, and then he turned and kissed that, too. A twinkle caught her eye, and she looked at the little sunbeam that had reflected off of the intricate, gold ring adorning her left hand.

"Is it too heavy?" he muffled in her neck, giving her goose bumps. "I can make it lighter…"

"It's fine. It's beautiful," she said, and then hissed softly as he started nipping at her earlobe.

Tinoco's high-pitched giggles bounced off the courtyard walls like pebbles, and she looked up to see their daughter atop Tyrone's broad back, with Chaotzu settled down behind her. The cat was hopping around the garden like a rabbit, and were it not for Chaotzu's firm grip, she most likely would have fallen.

"Maybe Chaotzu can watch her for a half hour," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.

"Half hour?" she managed, feeling the blood rush to her face.

He growled playfully. "Give or take twenty-nine minutes…"

Isabel laughed outright, which caused Chaotzu to turn his head. Seeing them both, he smiled, and made a quick shooing motion with his hand. Tien's triumphant chuckle sounded suspiciously like a giggle, and she yelped as he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

Isabel might have chastised him had she not been laughing so hard at his primal enthusiasm. Had someone told her when she was thirteen that the three-eyed menace would one day make her the happiest woman in the world - she would have never believed them.

Never ever...


End file.
